Cry Wolf (8 page)

Sean had them separated now, easing the mayor back against the wall, but Winslow was still shouting.

“Someday I’ll have enough pull to get you out of office so that someone sensible can run this town again.” He was red with anger. He turned and spotted Andrea. “And you!” He pointed at her. “You stay away from my wife. If you print a word of what she told you, we’ll sue!”

He backed out of the restaurant and disappeared down the street. The mayor straightened his tie, threw back his shoulders and scurried out the door.

Sean turned his head and sent Andrea a pointed look. “You know, Andi. Something tells me Winslow isn’t going to talk to you.”

Smart aleck.

She sighed. “Quite frankly, after seeing him in action, I’m not sure I want him to.”

It was almost six o’clock in the morning, and she couldn’t sleep.

Damn it.

There were only two options: crawl back into bed or get to work on figuring out where this photo came from.

Sleep?

Work?

Sleep?

Work?

Andrea sighed, kicked the covers completely off and reached for her suitcase. What kind of freak was she that she chose work over sleep? she wondered in disgust. Thinking about this story had kept her up half the night already.
Yeah right
. She ignored the voice in her head that told her Sean had something to do with it too. She didn’t have time for Sean Hunter. She had work to do.

Forty-five minutes later she was showered and dressed. It was too early to make business calls so she treated herself to breakfast at the diner across the street, then made her weekly phone call to her early bird family. She talked briefly to her mother, who was happily tending to her garden and too busy to talk. Andrea managed to exchange a few words with her father, but he was taking her brother Ben shopping for a car in a few minutes and was also too busy to talk. Ben got on the phone and
wanted
to talk—about the three hundred dollars he needed to borrow from her to accessorize the car he hadn’t yet gotten. Andrea rolled her eyes and told him
she
was too busy to talk.

“Get a job, kid,” she mumbled to herself, snapping her cell phone shut. She smiled wryly at the waitress she was coming to know on a first-name basis after only a handful of visits. Bea delivered the food. “Man problems?”

“Brother problems.”

Bea hung around. They chitchatted for a few minutes, and it didn’t take long for the topic to turn to Sean. “I heard he’s helping you with an assignment. That makes you the envy of almost the entire town’s female population. Most of the girls around here have been after him at some point,” Bea said casually as she leaned against the booth facing Andrea. “He’s so devoted to Meg and the kids. Gives this old girl hope there are still some decent men out there, you know?”

Who the hell is Meg? His wife?
Andrea felt her stomach sink and pushed her half-eaten plate away. She wanted to tell Bea that Sean’s private life was none of her business, but then again, she didn’t really want to piss off the woman who helped prepare her food.

“It is nice to see a man dedicated to his family,” Andrea replied as cordially as she could manage.

“Say, if you’re looking for some fun while you’re in town, my Darryl has a brother who’s handsome and has a steady job.” Bea pulled out her order pad to scribble something down. “Here’s his number. I think you two would make a real fine-looking couple.”

Andrea almost choked on the water she’d just swallowed. Good Lord! She was just passing through, for crying out loud. Was it possible for anyone in this town to have some privacy?

She tried to smile as she took the scribbled phone number from Bea and slid it into her purse, just to be polite. Thankfully, another customer came in to distract the waitress, and Andrea was able to eat the rest of her breakfast in peace.

As she left the diner, her cell phone rang. She recognized the number for the
Naked Truth
offices. It was Erika, the assistant to the managing editor. Jeff wanted to know when Andrea would be back in town; he wanted to schedule an appointment to sit down and talk to her.

What the hell was that all about?

Andrea had never known Jeff Hammond to schedule an appointment with any of his staffers. He was a fly-by-the-cuff kind of editor. Sometimes he’d yell your name across the newsroom if he wanted to “talk” to you. Sometimes he’d just give you a look, and the meaning was clear—“My office, now!”

She scheduled an appointment for the end of the week. She should be home by then.

Andrea glanced at the early morning traffic on Main Street, noted the time on a bank clock, and determined she still had an hour before she was due to meet Sean at the newspaper. She wouldn’t mind familiarizing herself with the atmosphere of this strange little town while she had some extra time on her hands.

Strange didn’t even begin to cover it. She walked past a bakery with windows full of werewolf-shaped cookies.
Cute
. An antiques shop was just opening down the street and she headed toward it. An hour of browsing might be fun. Her cell phone rang again, the noise jarring in the early quiet. She glanced at her caller ID.
Brandon.

“What’s up?” She kept moving.

“Good morning, darling.” His accent was much sharper than the last time they’d spoken, meaning he was sober and alert. “Interesting email you sent me last night. This sounds like it could end up being a series of articles, spread across several issues. We can even run a special promo—
The Werewolf of South Carolina: How one community has made it a way of life.
”

“I don’t know if I would go that far, Brandon.” She crossed the street. “I think you’re trying to make more of it than it is.”

“Maybe, but I
loved
the bit about the Werewolf Club.”

Andrea had to smile as she thought about the group of colorful teenagers she’d met yesterday. The Werewolf Club was made up of about fifteen teens ranging from a few jock-looking and cheerleader types to a couple of Goth kids. They had some interesting theories about what the werewolf was, and even claimed they knew where it
lived
—a deserted, dilapidated farm on the outskirts of town.

She figured she’d check the place out to get photos of the satanic altar they swore they saw in the supposedly haunted house.

Speaking of youth…

“Brandon, I still haven’t heard from the intern that knows where that photo came from.” She smiled as she passed an elderly couple. “I figured it came from Stevie since he’s from around here, but when I called to ask him, he didn’t have a clue what I was talking about.”

“Of course not. That intern, Dean, picked the photo out of the mail and gave it to me.”

Andrea was relieved to finally have a lead. Maybe the intern kept the envelope. She’d try to track Dean down later.

“Listen. I have an assignment for you. I think it would really make this story pop.” Uh-oh. She’d heard that before and, worse, lived to regret it.

“Picture this. Our star reporter lays in wait with a camera to capture a picture of this werewolf—at midnight. It would make an interesting angle, don’t you think?”

She sighed, and her breath disappeared in a puff of white air. “There’s just one problem, Brandon, dear. I can’t lay in wait for something I know won’t ever come to me.”

“That’s where the bait comes in.”

“And the bait would be
me
?” She spotted Reed Coleman walking ahead of her farther down the street. She hurried to catch up with him.

“No, silly. I want you to stop at the grocery store, pick up some raw meat, find the spot where this so-called creature has been spotted the most and then set a trap for it,” Brandon explained easily as if he were discussing something as simple as mailing a letter.

Andrea paused in her tracks and shook her head in frustration and disdain.
Of all the idiotic schemes—

“You don’t actually expect me to do something like that, do you?”

“I not only expect you to do it, I expect you to do it tonight. I want something in a blog format—your experiences as the night passes. Make it scary. Leave us on the edge of our seats. Let us feel your fear. Plus, I want pictures.”

Andrea couldn’t even feign surprise. The man was a real piece of work. Her former editor would have never even thought of such a thing other than as a joke. What had she ever seen in Brandon Montgomery?

“Brandon, you do realize there are no such things as werewolves, don’t you?”

“Of course I do, darling.” He gave a hearty chuckle. “I’m not expecting an actual werewolf to take the bait. I just think this would add a great deal of drama to an already fascinating story. Build the suspense so readers come back for more. You never know—something might show up. Obviously people there are seeing something.”

“All righty, then.” She shook her head. “But what do I do when the coyotes and other various creatures of the night come sniffing around the bait and realize I’d make a much better snack instead?”

“I never said you had to get out of your car. I imagine you’ll be plenty safe in there. Just keep your eye on the bait and don’t miss any photo opportunities.”

Andrea had to laugh at his audacity. “Next thing I know, you’ll call in a werewolf hunter to perform a séance.”

“That’s not bad, Andrea. I like that.”

What an idiot. He didn’t even realize séances were for ghosts, not werewolves. Well, at least he hadn’t asked her to wear a red riding hood and pose for pictures on top of it all.

“Forget it, Brandon. I’ll do your assignment with the bait, and you’ll have your ‘blog’ tomorrow afternoon. After that, I’m headed home. Got it?”

“Sure, Andrea, whatever you want.”

She saw Reed stop in front of a coffee shop. He had a cigarette in his hand. Yuck. Didn’t the kid know what those things could do to a person? “One more thing—you did say all expenses would be paid, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Great. Bye, Brandon.”

“Andrea—”

Too late, Andrea realized she’d just hung up on her editor. She tried to feel remorse but couldn’t.

“Reed,” she greeted. “You’re up a little early.”

His eyes lit up. “Andi! Hey!”

She had to resist the urge to grit her teeth. “It’s Andrea, actually. Shouldn’t you be in school?”

“It doesn’t start for another half hour, so I was killing time after dropping my sisters off.”

“Hmm, isn’t it illegal to buy cigarettes if you’re under the age of eighteen?” He nodded. “Are you eighteen?”

“Uh, not yet.”

“Your mom buys those for you, does she?”

“No, she would kill me if she knew—” He clenched his jaw and shut up.

She glared meaningfully at the cigarette in his hand until he got the hint and tossed it to the ground. When he did, she smiled and stamped it out with her boot. “Sorry if I seem testy. No one has called me Andi since I was just a little older than you.”

“Sorry, I just thought I heard Sean call you that and I—” He cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably, frowning at the dead cigarette butt next to her boot. He didn’t say a word about it, but he was blushing again. “So, uh, how’s your story coming along?”

“Pretty good. Actually, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Me?” He blinked. “You need some more quotes from me for your story?”

She shook her head. “How would you like to make some money on the side?”

He laughed. “Doing what?”

“Let’s just say I’m not the best photographer in the world, and my boss is pushing me to get some pictures to go along with this story I’m doing. I saw some of your stuff in the
Dispatch
. I can offer you a decent paycheck and the chance to add some nationally published clippings to your portfolio if you’re interested.”

He blinked and laughed as if she had just told a joke. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Nope. I can talk to Hunter if you’re worried he might—”

“No! I mean, no, he wouldn’t care, and, yeah, I’d love to help you out. I mean, when do you want to get started?”

She explained her night’s assignment and asked if he’d be interested in keeping her company while she waited to see if her bait attracted anything unusual.

“You know we’ve done that before, some of us in the club, but we never saw anything. But that doesn’t mean we won’t tonight. Yeah, I’m in. Definitely.”

“I just want to make sure your mother doesn’t object.” Andrea pulled out her notebook.

“Oh, it won’t be a problem. She knows all about you.” He caught Andrea’s interested look and grew defensive. “I mean, I told her you were in town, and we looked up some of your work on the internet—you know, because I’m interested in journalism. You’re a good writer. I mean, how awesome that you wrote for the
Chicago Sun-Times
. Did you really win all those awards?”

She nodded. The kid had checked her out on Google. She wasn’t sure if that was kind of cool or kind of creepy.

She wrote him a generous check. “That should cover the bait and retain your services while I’m in town.”

He looked floored. “Look, this is too much. Really, I would do it for free. I could use the clippings.”

“I’m sure you could use the money too.” She shoved his hand away, refusing to take the check back from him. “How about we meet somewhere for dinner first?”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll give you a call when I get the bait.”

“Sounds good.” She turned to head back to her car.
On second thought.
“Oh, Reed? Let’s keep this assignment between us for now. No telling Hunter or your friends, okay?”

“Yeah, sure.” She turned and was walking away when he called out her name. “Thanks—for the money, I mean.”

“No problem.”

As she climbed into her car, she called the
Truth
’s main office to track down Dean, the intern who had supplied Brandon with that photo. She was told the kid was out sick, had been all week. Just her luck. Next she called Reed’s mother to get permission to have him accompany her on her werewolf hunt. Andrea ended up having a thirty-minute conversation with the woman who was every bit as friendly and likable as her son.

By the time Andrea arrived at the
Dispatch
office, she had also managed to call and get flight information and departure times. With any luck, she would be out of here this time tomorrow.

“You look like you’re ready and raring to go.” Sean greeted her with a grin, looking a little bleary-eyed. Andrea felt a pinch of ridiculous jealousy imagining one reason he might not have slept much. “Don’t tell me you’re actually one of those weird morning people.”

“The early bird gets the worm, Hunter.”

She glanced at Sean. His wardrobe had reverted to jeans, although he’d tried to dress it up a little with a crisp white shirt and a brown sport coat. He even wore a tie, although it was loose and hanging slightly off-kilter.

He looked as gorgeous as sin.